Patricia Rodeo 2023 (part 1)

After the serene, silent beauty of the balloon festival, we had a three-day window to haul our backsides and the trailer back up to Patricia, Alberta for our most favourite event of the year….the Patricia Rodeo. (Woohoo…!!)

(This one has a lot of pictures…..if you want to be able to see the pictures better, by clicking on and enlarging them, first go to the main page at osteopraxis.com and open the post there)

A few changes this year as the rodeo has partnered with a professional rodeo organisation due to the dearth of volunteers stepping up to take over from the old timers….it’s getting harder to encourage people to turn out and give their time…….and with a skill set as specific as the rodeo…..inexperienced people like us who would happily give time……just don’t have the skills to help out safely.

The partnership has seen some improvements to the grounds. The arena now has a permanent light array which allows events to run later in the evening (previously the lights for evening events were generator run portables.)

We were thrilled to be here again and got ourselves set up in our regular camping spot.😁. This year we were joined by some airstreaming friends we met in a campground a while back who decided to take the plunge and accept our invitation to the rodeo.

…and so …the rodeo kicks off with a bit of bronc riding….

There were steers and bulls also….not sure if the photographer skipped out for a beer…!!! (Editor. It’s thirsty work)

…and the girls have to get in there too…!!

There are so many great pictures from this years’ gathering I have decided to make you wait…..

The Wild Horse Race craziness and the kids’ events have been separated into different posts …….. so….next we have a bit of highly skilled team roping. We had seen team roping for the first time at Writing on Stone……lots of practice required. Very few teams manage to get both the head and the feet.

Calf roping just one competitor trying to rope the calfs’ head.

…a then change of pace with some heavy horse events…

Barrel racing is mostly girls ….and they are fast…!!!

In between sections…..the draught horses come and harrow the arena. Those big beautiful horses, amazing to watch them work.

…and then it’s time for the chariot racing. The speed those teams take off at is breathtaking…

(Editor. For the photo above and the couple below I was trying out a new vantage point, when this guy went by, I could swear the sleeve of his jacket just grazed me….it seems it is possible to be too up close and personal)

…and the big broncs under the lights. You have to hand it to these guys……the horses in their determination to buck their passenger off……and the sheer grit of the guy hanging on……

Extra pix